A father from Bishop's Stortford who has spent eight weeks fighting for his life after falling ill during a family holiday in Spain has been told he needs a new heart.

Father of two Chris Oliver, 40, was struck down with legionella bacteria, a serious and potentially fatal lung infection, during the family trip.

His wife Anna has described the ordeal as a "living nightmare" that has left her and their two small children struggling to get by.

She explained: "We had a normal first week but Chris started to feel steadily more tired and unwell.

"We decided it was time to go to the doctors as he was struggling to breathe but we were still playing golf and going out to eat.

"We went to the doctor on Monday and got the test results back on Thursday and it was then that they decided to blue light him to hospital.

"Two hours later he was in the intensive care unit (ICU) with a massive infection."

Over the following weeks, Chris was put onto a ventilator and dialysis machine after contracting severe pneumonia and sepsis, during which his organs began to fail, before undergoing a tracheotomy to help him breathe.

After a five week stay he was then repatriated to the UK, where he has spent three weeks in the ICU at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge.

Last week the family were then given the devastating news that Chris would now need a heart transplant, after doctors decided his own would not be able to recover.

Anna said: "It's a nightmare, an absolute nightmare.

"He has an underlying heart condition, dilated cardiomyopathy. He wanted to be a police officer when he was younger and he found out during the medical exams, but he's never had any symptoms and he's active.

"He cycles from London to Brighton every year for the British Heart Foundation but his heart is just too weak and damaged now."

During their two-month ordeal, Anna described how she has been left trying to "keep life as normal as possible" for the couple's two small children, Jesse, seven, and Enny, four, who she says "miss their dad like crazy."

She added: "We've had to spend a few weeks preparing the kids for what intensive care looks like, and obviously Chris can't talk to them because of his tracheotomy."

Anna believes Chris contracted the illness during a business trip to Brussels shortly before the family holiday, saying there had been confirmed cases in Belgium recently but not in Spain.

Chris, who works as a business analyst for FedEx, will now be forced to undergo a series of tests to determine what ranking he will receive on the organ donor list, leaving the family in the dark as to how long their ordeal will last.

Anna said: "It's just so scary, we don't know what's going to happen with his health, or with things like sick pay."

Anna, who works as a wedding planner at Downhall Hotel, remained in Spain at Chris's side after her family flew over to pick up their children, and has not been able to return to work since.

She added: "My work have been so supportive. I have no idea how I would have juggled everything otherwise.

"Let's just say I've got a newfound respect for single parents."

A fundraising page has been setup for the family, with £1,000 having been raised in the first 24 hours.

Family friend Lucy Skelton, whose daughter Daisy is in the same school year as Jesse, has been supporting the fundraising effort.

She said: "They are a really lovely family and this has been awful for them.

"It must be really, really frightening. They have a mortgage and bills to pay, but they don't know how long the road ahead is.

"We are just trying to do everything we can to help.

"They're going to need a lot more money to keep them going so we just hope they can raise enough."

The family have also organised a charity golf event, which will take place at Warley Park in Brentwood on November 7, and are appealing for raffle prizes.